A Longish Post on my New “Strategery”

Well, I’ve had a serious Great Awakening lately! “The Worst Best Luck” is out, and it’s doing okay. “Given the Circumstances,” however, is still outselling it 2:1, and that one feels like a perennial that will keep on sellin’ for a long time. It’s had a slow burn picking up, mostly because I have been so busy with writing and dayjobbin’ that I never flogged it as unmercifully as I should have, marketing-wise. Also, to be honest, I find it pretty exhausting, begging people to notice me and love me, and I know my “rejection issues” are in play there as well – I know, in the modern selfpubbing marketplace, that means I’m so fucked! 🙂

What I’ve noticed, to be honest, is that GTC is still getting really good reviews, and I think it’s getting good word of mouth. So at this point in time, when its sales should be sputtering out, it’s still holding up pretty well. And I know damn well that this is because I put a LOT of time and research and plotting and planning into it. (Also, I wrote it in the summer/fall, when I’m at my best, which helped.) WBL was a “winter novel,” and considering that getting out of bed in the winter is an accomplishment for me, I’m not entirely disappointed with it. I KNOW! I’m supposed to be jumping up and down telling you how EXCITED I am about WBL, and how GREAT it is – see, I totally suck at marketing! 🙂 Well, it’s a good read, I think you’ll enjoy it. But, yeah, it’s not GTC. There, I said it.

So! I realized that what I need to do going forward is to GO BIG. GTC had bowl games, Heisman ceremonies, the Super Bowl, drug scandals, the ESPYs, and it really makes you feel swept up in what’s happening to these two guys. WBL was, despite all the money Peter comes into, a “small” story. The “Rob the Daemon” stories are getting bigger as I go – the first one was small, lots of setup, but in the second one, the scope and sweep are getting larger, and will continue to do so as the series goes on. (I’m currently pretty sure there will be 7 “Rob” stories in total.)

So…I have this idea that is fermenting. “Reunified.” It’s big. It’s epic. It’s what I need to do going forward. And I’m going to take my time, plot it, plan it, research it, make these two guys as real and as full as Roger and Brian, if not more so. You. Are. Going. To. Love it. Because I do, and if you’re reading this, I think I know what you like 🙂 It’s high concept, and I’m wary of having the concept stolen – ya ya I know, it’s all about the execution not the idea blah blah. All I’ll reveal right now is that my research so far includes reading Anne Applebaum’s “Iron Curtain” and Simon Winder’s “Danubia,” and gathering info on past and present constitutional monarchies of Europe, with particular attention being paid to the history of Lichtenstein…

I still have the “Brangelina” novel “Curse of the Tenth Muse” in my pipeline, but I’m not sure what I’m doing there. I know that the heroine-now-hero isn’t likable up front, and that for the first half of the novel, he does things selfishly that will turn off a lot of readers and stop them from following him through his transformation. I know it’s a good story, though, and maybe I just need to process it out of my system while I research “Reunified.” Also, the nature of this story might be box office poison – see, the way it ends, the way it has to end, means there’s almost NO SEXIN’! ZOMG the kiss of death to a M/M romance, right? So I dunno if I’m ready to invest in something that risky right now.

But! I promise you! No more seat-of-the-pants, I’m-writing-as-fast-as-I-can stories. I’ve been so eager to race to the finish line, said line being the day I can write full time, but I’m not getting there by running. It’s counterintuitive to me, this idea that I should SLOW DOWN to get somewhere faster. But there you go!

4 Comments on A Longish Post on my New “Strategery”

I know dude 🙂 Took me long enough to figure it out, right? PS I AM going to finish “Brangelina’s” novel – I now know what I have to do to decrease the main character’s unlikeability by 78% LOL. No way to put in more sexin’, but there you go. It is what it is.